Scooter



L. K. KLINKER April 5, 1949.

SCOOTER Filed Deb. 8, 1945 QNN 4 Tram/E? 0 gm tfn/ Patented Apr. 5, 1949UNITED STATES PTENT QFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to means facilitating the movement of a personthrough confined or lowceilinged places and deals more particularly witha device, which I shall term a scooter board, for the more particularpurpose of enabling a person to move through low-ceilinged attics andover the beams or joists which comprise the floor of such attics.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a scooter board ofsimple, sturdy and effective design, whereby a person can readily movealong, across or in a direction at an angle to the beams or joistsforming the floor of an attic or other similarly confined andlow-ceilinged places.

Another object of the invention is to provide a scooter board of thecharacter referred to which will readily move over beams or joists withlittle effort on the part of the person propelling the same, and whichwill safely transport said person through a low-ceilinged attic orsimilar confined space.

Another object of the invention is to provide a scooter board whichincorporates a multiplicity of traction rollers so arranged as tofacilitate movement of the board over normal obstructions such asunevenly aligned joists, etc.

My invention also has for its objects to provide such means that arepositive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a workingposition and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture,relatively simple, and of general superiority and service-ability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novelcombinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear inthe course of the following description. However, the drawings merelyshow and the following description merely describes embodiments of thepresent invention, which are given by way of illustration or exampleonly.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts inthe several views.

Fig. 1 is a side view of a scooter board embodying the present inventionand shown in position to travel across joists or similarly spacedmembers.

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal sectional view as takenon the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view as taken on theline 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view, to a greatly reduced scale, showing analternate form of construction.

The scooter board which is illustrated in the drawing may be said tocomprise, generally, an elongated board ii], a multiplicity of rollers Il arranged in a plurality of longitudinal lines or rows l2, and means ismounting the rollers on the under side of the board.

As shown in Fig. 2, the lines of rollers may be three in number, with aline i211 along and adjacent each longitudinal edge N5 of the board itand with a shorter line [22) between the lines of rollers Mia andextending from the front edge l5 of the board to an intermediate portionof the length of the board. All of the rollers H are arrangedtransversely of the board and, whereas the rollers of the lines |2LZ maybe generally aligned, those of the line 5 2b are preferably staggered orofiset with respect to the aligned rollers of lines I2a.

As shown in Fig. 5, the main body of rollers may comprise a double rowor line of rollers !2c in offset relation, as shown, and extending fromthe front edge l5 of the board E0 to an intermediate point of the rearportion of said board. Another single row [2d of rollers may be providedto extend from the double row We to the rear end I6 of the board.

The arrangement of Fig. 2 affords a more stable support for the boardIll when traveling across joists, whereas the arrangement of Fig. 5,provides for easier guidance of the board along the top surface of ajoist. It will be obvious that other arrangements of rows or lines ofrollers may be used for obtaining desired stability and directionalguidance of the board.

The board I ll, as shown, is of generally elongated rectangular form andis preferably constructed of wood or other light weight, durable andsturd material. The general dimensions of the board may be such as toreadily span two or more joists and to safely support a person on theboard and moving along, across and at an angle to said joists.

The rollers H are shown as cylindrical members I1, each of a widthgenerally approximating its diameter and integrally formed with opposedtrunnions [8. For economy of manufacture and ease of construction, allof the rollers H are similar.

The means [3 which mounts the rollers H in the various rows [2a. andI2?) of one form of the invention and rows I20 and l 2d of the otherform, in this instance, is shown as comprising suitably related andassociated T-bars l9. Said T-bars are fastened by means of their flanges20 to the under side of the board ll], nails or screws 2| being used forthis purpose. The webs 22 of the T-bars l 9 are formed with bearingholes 23 which, among the related T-bars, are aligned to receive theopposed trunnions l8 of the rollers iii. A typical arrangement is shownin Fig. 4, wherein the rollers extend below the webs 22 so they canreadily roll along a surface without interference by their mountingmeans.

Frequently, the joists or similar members are unevenl set verticallywith respect to each other resulting in one or more joists beingsomewhat elevated relatively to the others. Inasmuch as the presentstructure is quite low for the purpose of affording access tolow-ceilingee places and the rollers I! are of necessarily smalldiameter, some difficulty may be encountered in propelling the scooterboard across an elevated joist. Accordingly, and in a simple manner, theleading roller or rollers Ha, i. e., those immediately adjacent thefront edge if: of the board, may be mounted to be somewhat elevated withrespect to the other rollers l l, as best seen in Figs. 1 and 3. Theedge 24 of the web 22 is suitabiy formed to expose the cylindricalcontact surface of said roller Ila. It will be obvious that thearrangement, which also can be provided at the rear end I6 of the board,facilitates smoothly gliding the scooter board over somewhat relativelyelevated joists. As a further aid, if desired, the bearing holes 23a forthe trunnions of the rollers i-ia may be slightly over size, as shown inFig. 3, to aid the climbing of said rollers over an obstruction asmentioned.

While I have illustrated and described what I now regard as thepreferred embodiments of my invention, the constructions are, of course,subject to modifications without departing from the spirit and scope ofmy invention. 1, therefor do not wish to restrict myself to theparticular forms of construction illustrated and described; but desireto avail myself of all modifications that may fall within the scope ofthe appended'claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a scooter of the type referred-to, an elongated board, a pair ofspaced inverted U-shaped bars extending from end toend on and secured tothe underside of said board, the webs of said bars at the front thereofbeing upwardly curved, a plurality of trunnioned rollers journaledinsaidbars and disposed in the same plane, a roller journaled in the upwardlycurvedportion of each bar and disposed on a higher plane thansaidplurality of rollers, an inverted U-shaped bar between said pair ofbars and extending from the front of said board to a point intermediatethe length thereof, and a plurality of rollers journaled in saidintermediate bar.

2. In a scooter of the character referred to, an elongated board, aninverted U-shaped bar arranged longitudinally on the underside of saidboard and along each edge thereof and journalling a plurality 'ofrollers alldisposed in the same plane, each of saidbars at the forwardend thereof being upwardly curved, and provided with holes, the holes inthe upwardly curved end being in a relatively higher plane than theremaining holes, trunnioned rollers journaled in said holes, the facesof the rollers in the upwardly curved portions being on a higher planethan the faces of the other rollers, said holes being diametricallygreater than the trunnions of said rollers, a bar between saidfirst-named bars extending from substantially an end thereof to a pointintermediate the length of said board, and rollers journaled in said.bar.

3. A scooter board for attics or like confined spaces'comprising anelongated support, a plurality of pairs of spaced bars secured to theunderside of said support in spaced relation and extending substantiallyfrom end to end'of the support, a pair of spaced bars between saidfirstnamed pairs of bars extending from the front-0f the support to anintermediate point thereof, a multiplicity of rollers journalled in andbetween each pair of bars, all of said rollersbeing disposed in the sameplane, and a roller on the underside of the support and adjacent an endthereof, said latter roller being elevated with respect to the otherrollers.

LAWRENCE K. 'KLINKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in-the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 73,398 Smith Jan. 14:, 1868563,626 Stendahl July 7,1396 612,029 Forcler Oct. 11, 1898 787,472Schuster et al.. Apr. 18, 1905- 1,258,'776 Jenkins Mar. 12, 1-918FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 18,531 Germany June.14=,.1882

